I provide commentary on political economy, police and prosecutorial abuse, and whatever else might come to mind.
Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24 (ESV)

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Once upon a time, prosecutors claimed to be after the truth. Today, Georgia prosecutors are more likely to arrest the people telling the truth in order to keep them from telling a jury under oath that the information they have just might undermine the prosecution's case. Apparently, Eric Echols is not the only Georgia private investigator to be facing trumped-up charges.

This is what the ancients once called obstruction of justice, but today, obstruction of justice is legal in Georgia -- as long as the prosecutors are the ones committing the crimes. Furthermore, the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit is not the only place in Georgia where prosecutors run amok and break the law.

Forsyth County in Georgia is infamous for driving out all its black residents in 1912 after some black men were accused of rape, one of them being later murdered by a Forsyth mob. Today, the law perpetrates injustice of a different kind: pursuing fake child molestation cases, and then attempting to jail a private investigator who had helped uncover information the prosecution did not want the jury to hear.

As I pointed out in a post last week, it seems that Chris "Alberto-Facebook" Arnt was not the first prosecutor to have a PI arrested in order to try to get him off a case. Forsyth ADA Sandra Partridge pulled off the same nonsense a couple years ago, having PI Ron De Laby arrested for the bogus charges of "intimidating a witness."

You might remember that the courts threw out the indictment,but Partridge was not impressed by the law, so she re-indicted Mr. De Laby with the same counts, and that is where things stand. (Mr. De Laby has petitioned for a "speedy trial" before a judge, but so far nothing has happened.)

In a recent conversation I had with Mr. De Laby, he said that an attorney elsewhere in Georgia was threatened with the same kinds of charges (in a similar case), and that this seems to be a strategy -- formal or informal, we don't know -- that Georgia prosecutors are using in order to keep PIs from looking into child molestation cases. In fact, according to Mr. De Laby, it is working, as PIs are refusing to take on these investigations.

Should anyone be wondering if it is legal for prosecutors in Georgia to be doing this, the obvious answer is "no." However, because the Georgia State Bar so far has refused to discipline prosecutors not just for misconduct but also for outright law breaking, the foxes have overrun the hen house.

In my private conversation with Mr. De Laby, he revealed a number of other things about Partridge and her actions that tell me that she is a legal soulmate of "Alberto-Facebook" and "The Man." Partridge looks for child molestation cases, has the help of a local rogue Children's Advocacy Center, and gives juries the "Children never lie about these things" Big Lie, which, unfortunately, most of them swallow.

The notion that anyone can "clean up" the justice system in Georgia is fancy at best, given the pervasive levels of corruption that apparently define the courts in that state. However, I believe that they have overplayed their hands by going after Mr. De Laby and Mr. Echols, and they are two men who both are highly principled AND who have integrity -- and they are motivated not only to beat the bogus charges against them, but to challenge dishonest prosecutors.

Have prosecutors around Georgia been colluding on this strategy to try to head off people who might actually speak the truth in a Georgia criminal court? (Perish the thought that a Georgia prosecutor might have to listen to something that is true, versus the perjured testimony that has become the theme song of the state's DAs.)

If we are looking at collusion, then we also are looking at crimes being committed. Not that it matters, given that Georgia's government anxiously protects its worst criminals.

24 comments:

Anonymous
said...

So basically, the prosecutors can't stand anyone else doing what they in fact do. Perhaps an Open Records request for the phone records of Catoosa County DA and the Forsyth DA for the past few years? It would show a) whether they called each other and when and b) the length of the phone call. I don't think that information would be considered "privileged." They can redact any confidential information such as private phone numbers of victims. Emails would be more difficult to obtain.

Unfortunately, those DA's would probably claim their phone records are work product and successfully argue against releasing the information. I see where the Forsyth County DA is trying the same dirty tricks as LMJC - that is, making it impossible for the defendant to get a 'fair' trial. Hmmm? Do I smell an appeal to the federal level? These GA prosecutors better learn quick - straighten up of the feds will descend like a duck on a June bug!

KC, 9:22 I will beleive that when I see it. I think they are all Joke's are they would already have steppped up to the plate, Sorry do not trust any of them. Governor,AG, Judges, D.A. ADA. not any, They should all be in Jail. AS for as i am concern.

I have quoted and linked this to my Biker on Not blog line at http://www.bikerornot.com/docellis124 and I tweeted this to Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/docellis124 , to MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/docellis124, and to LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/docellis124 Thank you for writing this

That idea of getting a federal prosecutor not from your state is how we are cleaning up in our state. Over the objections of a few Bush took the recommendation of former Illinois Sen. Peter Fitzgerald to have Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation) from I believe Virginia as federal prosecutor in Chicago.

Anon 8:27 Phone records are the property of the phone company and are not subject to open records.

So how deep are you suggesting this conspiracy go. You have accused prosecutors across the state of Georgia, the Attorney's General's Office, local and state law enforcement, the local FBI office, CAC's in the state of Georgia, Superior Court Judges in Georgia.

Anon @11:17 - CC gets a bill with the information on it. It can easily be redacted to remove information not related to Forsyth. The fact of a phone call, the date of it, and the length of the call would not be work product in my opinion. Work product means information prepared by a lawyer, usually in preparation for trial. As you rightly assert, the information would be prepared by the phone company, but sent to the county on its bill, and placed in a file. My guess is that the phone bill would not be in a trial preparation file at all. And I would suggest that conspiracy is as deep as the evidence permits. The civil standard is only "more likely than not." Its not a particularly high standard to meet. Fortunately, a jury will decide, not you 11:17.

I am not alleging a state-wide conspiracy as much as a wink and a nod agreement that the authorities won't do much to oversee prosecutors who break the law. That pretty much is standard in most states and certainly with federal prosecutors.

Are you saying that the CACs in Georgia are doing an accurate job, and that all Georgia prosecutors and judges are the soul of honesty? It seems to me that you are trying to claim that everyone just is "doing his job." Well, I am saying that they simply don't care, and that they are negligent because they just don't want to be bothered. Furthermore, there are the "old boy" networks as well as a general understanding that prosecutors will be left alone.

I will add one more point. I have seen very little conduct on behalf of Georgia prosecutors that has been honorable and decent. From what I can tell, they try to manipulate the law and intimidate the defense, and so far it is working because the judges and the so-called gatekeepers refuse to do their jobs.

We never should forget that in 1946, a mob of whites dragged two young black couples from a car, one of the women being pregnant, and they executed them. (Monroe, Georgia)

Even though it is common knowledge who committed these crimes, the State of Georgia never has seen fit to bring anyone to trial or to charge anyone either with murder or accessory to murder.

So, given that the State of Georgia has put its stamp of approval on a mass murder, why should we be surprised when they let prosecutors run wild?

If that much is going on in Georgia, where else is it happening? How do we find out or discover if the corruption is in our own area? My guess is this happens much more than we realize or want to think about or consider.Most of all, what can we do? It really seems that everyone is guilty until proven innocent...then they have to keep proving their innocence over and over. All of this is so backward!

While Georgia has long been a particularly egregious example of state-sanctioned lawlessness as an institution, the trend is now all-pervasive across these disunited states. The Three Stooges of the Craft case, and their enablers and facsimiles elsewhere in Georgia, would be right at home in any of the other 49 states.

Bottom line: As long as long as fear and ignorance rule the day, the status quo will continue - and not just in places like Northern Georgia either. I don't know about the "fear" side of the equation, but the "ignorance" factor is definitely the more powerful and destructive of the two and it isn't going to be conquered anytime soon, no matter how successful advocates for liberty and human decency like Bill Anderson are in exposing the extent of the toxic rot (and it goes without saying that Bill has done yeoman's service here and I am certainly not saying that he should give up; the battle is just going to be a lot harder to fight than anyone imagines).

The best any of us can do is to remain outraged, spread the word (as Bill is doing here), keep up our courage, pray constantly, and lend as much moral or material support as possible to as many victims of the system like Tonya, Brad Wade, Eric Echols, Ronald Delaby, and countless others as we can. Remember: there are many more of us than there are of THE OPPRESSORS!

liberranter, thank you. I needed to read that. I am not in fear. I am, however, in ignorance, but I am trying to educate myself and improve. I am outraged by this and I want to do more. I have told many about Mr. Anderson and his website. I know that running out in the middle of I-75, stripping off naked, and setting myself on fire will not help, but I feel the need to do more. I will continue talking to people I know about this injustice, but it seems as though I need to do more! Thanks.

liberranter, you've got it right that prosecutors from every state and federal jurisdiction are either corrupt or inept most of the time. Look at what's going on in Louisiana right now with Allison Hargrave. She was a licensed psychiatrist who at one time was practicing who then became the school counsilor at a very prestigious private school in that state. There was a 14 year old girl at that school caught with cigarettes on campus who was then ordered to see the counsilor. Apparently, the counsilor, a married woman in her 30s, suddenly was smitten by this 14 year old girl, and used her training as a psychiatrist to brainwash this girl and manipulate her into a sexual relationship. She then had affairs with the principal and headmaster at the school to basically blackmail them into not doing anything to stop her relationship with the girl. When the girl's parents found out, they tried to get the school to do something, but they wouldn't, because they were being blackmailed. They went to the police, but they just asked the school to handle it, which they didn't. It wasn't until march of this year when the girl's parents pulled her out of school and filed a lawsuit against Hargrave and the school, and also went to the local news station and told them about the whole thing, that any law enforcement agency did anything. And, who was it that acted? Not the local LEA. No-sir-ee. It was the FBI that got involved, took the information the parents had about how this woman used email, instant messaging and cell phone text messages to lure this girl, and tracked the lady down, and hauled her butt off to jail for a trial. Here's where it gets interesting. Hargrave is now claiming that she's suffering from several mental disorders, including post traumatic stress--sound familiar (Laurie Evans)? She's blaming her mental illness on her having brainwashed and seduced a girl young enough to be her own daughter into a sexual relationship, a relationship that lasted nearly a year, a relationship the girl initially resisted, but that resistance was broken down through her use of psychological training. Surprise, surprise, we have another woman of roughly the same age as Laurie Evans engaging in an illicit affair, conducting herself in a counsiling profession while supposedly suffering from mental illness herself, involved in sex crimes against children. And my cousin wondered why I said "thanks but no thanks" when I found out the woman she was trying to set me up with is a psychologist.

And the funniest part of all this, if you can call any of it funny, is that when the Feds arrested Hargrave she was a patient at a mental health clinic that specializes in treating sexual addictions...the same one that Tiger Woods attended after he was busted for having affairs. Oh, and it's further alleged that while at the clinic she had an affair with another patient, and told him that if she were released on bail she'd flee and hook up with him--that's why the judge ordered her held over until trial.

Aye her teaching license was reinstated. She may file a suit against the school for wrongful termination. I guess the school board wasn't thinking clearly when they could have suspended her with no pay pending an investigation with the same results but without the financial liability.

I am, however, in ignorance, but I am trying to educate myself and improve.

Don't sell yourself short. As a regular contributor to this blog, you and everyone else here have definitely proved that you're not ignorant. As for education and self-improvement, those are never-ending highways that we all travel in that illusive, never-satisfied quest for "enlightenment." Sadly, the antagonists who are the primary focus of this blog, along with their enablers, seem to have gone down a dead-end exit off of that highway early in their lives and, rather than reversing course and getting back on the highway to search for exits that lead to real truth and positive enrichment, have chosen to shut off their engines and set up camp on the deserted lot at the dead end. We can only hope that some of them see the futility of calling that spiritually desolate patch of turf "home" and will rejoin human civilization. I can't see grounds for optimism, but one never knows when or where miracles might occur.

liberranter, so true! Why do people just accept life and not try to improve? It is a daily battle for me to do my best and learn more. I just don't get the idea of setting up camp at the end of the road and accepting what comes before you. I always want to learn and know more and better myself. Thanks for your response and your kindness. Bobb

One of the problems in Georgia is that in the past the Governors, both republican and democrat, have elevated/appointed Superior Court Judges directly from the District Attorney position. Frequently they forget that they are no longer a prosecutor or do not like they way their successor is prosecuting.

About Me

I teach economics at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland. We are located on the Allegheny Plateau, and we have cool summers and tough winters.
I am the single father of five children, four of them adopted from overseas and I have two grandchildren. My family and I are members of Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA).